A bombshell leak from Maimai — China's version of LinkedIn, known for anonymous workplace gossip — just ripped the curtain off the internal chaos at Kuro Games. The allegations are wild: rampant faction wars, fiefdoms built by department heads, and key positions filled through personal relationships rather than merit. For a studio that once carried the hopes of the gacha community, the picture painted is nothing short of disastrous.
The trigger for this drama was the departure of Wuthering Waves' engine lead, Jeff. He had previously posted on Zhihu (China's Quora) hinting that he was essentially forced out by the toxic internal environment. Now, Maimai screenshots appear to corroborate his claims, describing severe factional infighting at Kuro with various department heads running their own "fiefdoms" — leaving technical staff caught in the crossfire.
The leak also name-drops a key figure — Yang Chao, allegedly Kuro's Scene Technical Art Director. While unverified by official sources, the poster claims his identity can be cross-referenced through the screenshots provided.
The anonymous leaker, operating under the alias "Hei Zi Yue," appears to have insider knowledge of the Guangzhou game dev scene, lending some credibility to the claims — though as with all anonymous leaks, a grain of salt is warranted.
But the revelation that truly set the community ablaze? Wuthering Waves' lead writer is allegedly the executive producer's girlfriend. Rumors about "the writer being the producer's wife" had circulated before, but this leak clarifies — it's not the producer himself, but the *executive* producer's girlfriend. What makes this even juicier is that she allegedly worked on Tencent He Jia's (a prominent game director) project team, and is implied to have been one of the reasons that Tencent's so-called "moonshot" project failed spectacularly.
The poster couldn't help but crack: "This one writer managed to sabotage two Genshin competitors single-handedly — miHoYo must be over the moon. Is she secretly a mole?" The implication being that if true, both Wuthering Waves and Tencent's failed project were torpedoed by the same person.
The NGA comment section turned into a full-on popcorn festival. Veterans were unfazed: "Didn't we already know the MC (Wuthering Waves) writer was the producer's wife plus her friend circle?" Another chimed in: "Back then they said 'producer's wife,' but it's actually the executive producer's girlfriend." Clearly, the community had long suspected the writing team was a nepotism outfit — the Maimai leak just confirmed it with receipts.
One commenter delivered a brutal reality check: "If you're a big studio that's already made money, fine, pull this stunt. But Kuro — a mid-sized studio still hemorrhaging cash on new projects — what right do you have to operate like this?" The implication is clear: Kuro is burning investor money while filling critical creative roles based on personal relationships rather than qualifications.
A more measured take from a Floor 14 commenter suggested business context: "Wuthering Waves launched before it was ready, likely under investor pressure. Kuro traded half its equity stake for Tencent's investment — if launch revenue disappoints, they'll be working off that debt for years." Though someone quickly pushed back: "The optimization was done by the third beta test. PC performance was fine — something broke between beta and launch."
The leak also briefly name-dropped Lilith and Papergames, though without elaboration. The entire thread reads like a who's-who of Chinese gaming industry drama, connecting dots from Kuro's internal dysfunction to Tencent's investment strategy to the broader culture of nepotism plaguing Chinese game studios.
As of now, all claims come from anonymous Maimai posters, so take everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. But given Wuthering Waves' rocky launch and the community's longstanding suspicion about its writing quality, these allegations about Kuro's management problems don't exactly strain credulity. And if the story about one writer single-handedly tanking two Genshin competitors turns out to be true? Well, that's going straight into the gacha gaming hall of infamy.
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